MUZAFFARGARH
The warehouse in Muzaffargarh district will serve as a logistics base for Southern Punjab which is a flood-prone area. It has an overall storage capacity of 3,200 tonnes and is located over an area of seven acres of land provided by the Punjab government, said National Disaster Management Authority Chairman Maj Gen (r) Muhammad Saeed Aleem.
He was talking to newsmen at warehouse after its handed over ceremony.
DCO Capt (r) Muhammad Asif, ADCG Sikandar Zulqurain Khatchi, MPA Kiswar Karin Langrial, World Food Programme Country Director Ms Lola Castro, Japan Counsellor Isami Yakada, Denmark Counsellor Darriann Riber, French Counsellor Audren De Kerdrel Guillaunme, City Press Club President Dr Khalid Mehmood Zaffar Ch and a large number of notables were also present on the occasion.
He said amongst others facility there were permanent as well as prefabricated office space, high tonnage storage facilities as well as a climate controlled area for temperature sensitive items with a capacity of 200 tonnes. He also said the structure was earthquake resistant and other environmental hazards had also been factored into the construction. On the occasion, WFP Country Director Lola Castro said that recurring natural disasters in Pakistan substantiate the need to strengthen the country’s emergency disaster preparedness and response capacity at all levels. She said “The priority for WFP and partners through these on-going efforts is to establish a humanitarian warehousing network in the country to ensure a fast, effective and reliable logistics response mechanism at district level and alongside the government of Pakistan to protect and empower communities most at risk”. She said that the joint endeavours between WFP and the Pakistan Government was being undertaken to establish a system of eight strategically located Humanitarian Response Facilities (HRFs) in each of the most disaster-prone district to enhance the country emergency response capacity. The project is being implemented in close coordination with the NDMA and the PDMAs of Punjab, Sind, Balochhisten, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan with generous funding provided by the governments of Japan, Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and the US.
On the occasion, DCO Muhammad Asif thanked all the participants along with Lola Castro and his team. He said the warehouse was completed with a total cost of Rs330 million within 10 months.